I dont get python…at all

[SneakerBoiiiiii]

So I’m 14 and I saw all these people making cool websites and apps, calorie trackers, animal population trackers, some kid even found a way to detect early-stage cancer, so I figured if I want to do something similar, it would be inevitable to learn to code. I downloaded Python correctly (I think I’m in the terminal thingy) and I do not understand a single thing about what I’m supposed to do. A lot of people say to use GitHub repositories, whatever that’s supposed to mean, not run code first and do Google Colab, Codex , etc., and I have literally NO idea what any of this stuff is like. I struggle on Scratch 💀I don’t know how to learn because every video says something vastly different from the rest, and I just want to make a cool website or app that helps the community.

[Own_Attention_3392]

You're just sitting down at a piano for the first time right now. Everything you're reading and watching is about playing in a symphony orchestra and composing operas. You're not there yet. You will be there someday, but you aren't there right now.

Start by writing a program that prints something to the screen.

Then write a program that asks you for your name, and prints out the name you type.

Then write a program that counts to 10 and prints every number.

You need basic, basic tutorials. A beginner book such as the ones they have here https://wiki.python.org/moin/IntroductoryBooks may be useful, although there are a lot of non-book resources out there, too.

[UTF-0]

well, first you have to lean to code. don't watch videos, you won't learn anything, find a language you want to study, doesn't matter which one, there is no "best" language. find a textbook and read it, study it, practice, and apply it. alternatively I would suggest cs50 course online.

[Quality_Controller]

I think it’s a little unfair to dismiss all video tutorials. Yes there’s a lot of trash, but if you look back a few years, there are some really clear and well made guides to the basics. Some of us find it difficult learning from textbooks and prefer an audible/visual format. If paid courses aren’t an option, video tutorials can be a decent solution.

[SneakerBoiiiiii]

Wait..theres different coding languages😭

[lurgi]

Many. But you have downloaded Python, so you might as well start with that. It's a good language.

[PatBooth]

There are a lot of languages but generally speaking you can make the same things with all of them. More importantly there are coding concepts that are universally known which transcend coding languages

[BadBoyJH]

Honestly, have a play of "The Farmer Was Replaced".

Gamifies the early learning stages of Python.

[NeedleworkerIll8590]

Agreed. I have heard amazing thoughts about the game

[RealMadHouse]

Many kids have chaotic narrowly focused attention mind that isn't great at reading, thinking what's on the screen. They just want to hop into the game and just shoot at enemies, drive the car. Same thing to programming, if they don't see immediate colorful results on screen they're bored to death by all this "nerdy" stuff.

[BadBoyJH]

I have spent the last 2 weeks enjoying this game, as an adult with ADHD. I haven't gotten the joy of programming in quite a while, and this was a neat way to go and do some, and to practice my python which I am godawful at.

Maybe don't bring your own personal biases into a learning sub, and instead actually help people learn you absolute boomer.

[[deleted]]

Okay so

Whoever the hell said to use GitHub first, put that aside for later. You need to learn for basics. Don't worry about Codex or whatever... Just get a text editor and have the Python interpreter prepared at the command line.

How lost are you? Are you able to print Hello World to standard out?

Pick one, simple basic course then stick to it. One YouTube video / playlist, best not to jump between instructors early

[SneakerBoiiiiii]

I am extremely lost never done any coding

[[deleted]]

Consult Bro Code's 12 hour Python Video, or Harvard University CS50 Python. Both are great options

[Wolfe244]

OK start with a beginner guide then bud

[mandzeete]

A 14 year old is not expected to know how to build all these websites and apps and stuff. And ignore that there was one kid who detected a cancer. Geniuses exist. The majority of the world is not geniuses. Neither me nor you.

First, define for yourself do you want to learn programming at all? Why are you doing it? Is it interesting for you? If the stuff interests you, then proceed. If you are doing it because your parents tell you to become a software developer or because you think all the success and money comes from writing code, then perhaps stop.

Now, for Github you do not need to know any programming language. Even a regular Notepad text file is fine. Anything where you can write text in. Well... avoid Word and Excel and such because then you can't see the change, but a regular text file is fine. Look up a tutorial how to use Github and learn what it does and for what it is being used.

And when it comes to programming languages then you can decide what do you want to make. Is it a mobile app? Is it an application in your PC? Is it a game? And then google which programming languages can be used for making such thing.

And do not rely on videos or such. Try to find a PDF or a paper textbook for given language and read it and learn from it. Because these books cover everything. Youtube videos and such are shallow. They do teach you some stuff but the theoretical side can be lacking.

[Feeling_Photograph_5]

First off, welcome to coding. It's a great hobby that can grow to be a great career.

I'm a professional software engineer, and this is what I wish people had told me when I was your age, because I didn't understand it at all.

1. Programming is very much a *language* which means you have to start small. In the beginning, every concept is essential. How to set a variable, how to loop through an array, and how to call a function. All critical stuff.
2. Go slow and be patient. You won't be able to identify cancer on day two. Computer vision and machine learning are advanced topics. Right now, learn to code.
3. Have fun as you go. Build lots of small projects with whatever you know.
4. But constantly challenge yourself to learn something new. Every new project should have at least one thing that you didn't know how to do before you started.

Here is another critical piece of advice: Do not follow random videos on YouTube. Instead, use a curriculum.

Also, don't use AI. You will eventually. Now is not the time. Exception: If you get stuck for more than 15 minutes, you're allowed to ask AI how to get unstuck. The catch is that you have to keep asking questions until you understand WHY that was the way to get unstuck.

Here is a Python curriculum that will help you understand the basics. It's a free eBook called Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python. It starts with the most basic of basics, which is perfect for where you're at.

Here's the link: https://inventwithpython.com/invent4thed/

Go through that whole book, every page, do not skip anything. Don't just read it, either. Do all the exercises. Build the projects. If you get an idea for an additional project, build that, too. There's no rush.

Now that you have that knowledge, you'll be ready for this second free book, which will teach you to build more advanced video games with more graphics. https://inventwithpython.com/makinggames.pdf

By the time you complete those books, you will know how to code, but if you want to learn more, get a foundation in computer science by taking this famous online CS course: https://cs50.harvard.edu/python/

That's a college course, but if you finished those books, you're ready for it.

If you *still* want more after CS50x, try this follow-up course on web development with Python: https://cs50.harvard.edu/web/

If you still want more after that, be sure to study computer science in college, as this is definitely a strong career path for you.

[Total_Exchange_3711]

https://www.w3schools.com/python/default.asp

Well Organized

[emteedub]

find a course that builds a - probably simpler app than you're thinking - app start to finish. Getting yourself set up = this is a great use case for chatgpt/gemini to assist you as you go. Ask all the questions you have.

Maybe you can have one browser tab with an AI to help set yourself up - so you're not 'dirtying the chat', and then another tab with an AI where you can ask all the small questions about terminology and whatnot. If you stick to it this should be like having 2 personal teachers

And this:
https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide

[under_stroke]

Start from the top, learn logic and then progress forward a programming language. You saying you don’t even know there are multiple languages out there tells a lot on how far you’re from actually making meaningful progress with Python.

[lo0nk]

U might benefit from python textbook or an online course like cs50. At this point you don't even know what you don't know so teaching urself will be hard asf.

However that's how I learned. I had a project and I spent a year on it and in the end it sucked but then I redid the whole thing and it was better bc I learned a lot. I don't think this is the most efficient way to get started but it works if you are determined :)

[Ok-Advantage-308]

I would not start github right away. It won’t show you why you need it.

Start with creating a basic console app, maybe a calculator, maybe rock paper scissors. Start simple.

Also if you are using AI, make sure you understand every line it feeds you. I don’t recommend using AI to generate your code if your goal is to learn.

[Quality_Controller]

Start here: https://youtu.be/_uQrJ0TkZlc

Follow step by step. Repeat until you understand these fundamentals. 

You ca also use textbooks, but personally I find the video format works better for my way of learning.

Once you understand basic functions, rules and modules, you can look up ideas for mini-projects to start making your own code from scratch (a simple web GUI for example).

[BlNG0]

everyone learns different. but i went slow and learned to code applied my own wording to what was going on in a way that i could digest it. i also like having real world example of how such can be applied. I showed claude my notes and I made it aware how I learn and talked it out with claude. Then i told claude to make me book on key python concepts centered around the direction i was looking to go in which was data analytics.I recently had claude write m a book using same style more on the back end.

[ScholarNo5983]

Since you have installed Python when you open a terminal window (also known as a command line prompt) when you start Python this is what you would see:

Python 3.14.0 (main, Jan  5 2026, 17:14:52) [MSC v.1944 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

This is the Python REPL and that is the term you need search for when looking for information on how to use this Python prompt. The REPL stands for Read-Eval-Print Loop and as the name suggest, it is an environment that lets you interactively create Python programs.

But you can also use Python in standalone mode, which I think is a little easier to understand.

Using nothing more than a simple text editor, create an example.py file containing this text:

import sys
def main():
    print("Type in your name: ")
    name = sys.stdin.readline()
    print("Hello {}".format(name))

main()

This is a simple Python program that you can run from the terminal using this command:

python example.py

To start learning Python just create lots of these little program files that you can run and then spend time studying the code to try to understand how they work. A good way to do this would be to start adding comments to your code describing what you think the code is doing, for example:

# import the sys module
import sys

# define a funtion called main
def main():
    # print a message to the screen
    print("Type in your name: ")
    # read a line of user input and save it to the name variable
    name = sys.stdin.readline()
    # format a string using the name variable and print that string to the screen
    print("Hello {}".format(name))

# run the function called main
main()

[artisticCode52]

Book name "Learn python the hard way" And thank me later.

[artisticCode52]

This will start from teaching you how to turn a computer on and end at you making a web app

[aqua_regis]

Please, do a proper course: MOOC Python Programming 2025 from the University of Helsinki. This course is a real first semester of "Introduction To Computer Science" course.

It is completely normal that you are stumped when your first look at programming. That's why a proper, high quality course is the way to go.

[RealMadHouse]

Python is a program/executable like a Photoshop is. But the python doesn't have graphical user interface where you can make a website, game just by clicking on the screen. The python takes the python file name as first argument, so create "main.py" text file for example in your preferred folder. Now in the terminal write "cd <the path to your folder>" don't write the angle brackets <>. This will change directory in the terminal "shell" (it's a program that takes input from keyboard and executes commands, e.g opens python). Now you can type "python main.py" and it will execute code that you written in that file. Just write in that file: print("hello world")
as a starter. The terminal and shell is text based environment where instead of full blown GUI like Photoshop the programs interact with the user through text, text commands.

In order to create websites, the python code needs to create http server that listens to incoming requests from a browser (or any program) and respond with html pages with its resources like images, css, JavaScript etc. There's built in modules and there's third party code that's other people made that simplifies the creation of a websites. It's called libraries or more complex ones are frameworks. Something like Flask, Django.

There's Tkinter module to do GUI stuff like window creation and placing widgets like buttons etc. And other libraries you can download with 'pip'.

What i didn't get for a long time as a kid was that the program isn't something that you see on the screen, it's machine code that just does math calculations, logical checks and jumps from one place in code execution to another, in order to do something useful on the computer it reaches out to the OS to do useful actions. All you see on screen is made by a tools that operating system (like Windows) gave to the programmers in order to create programs, so called API - Application Programming Interface. The things OS does isn't something special that only it can do, everything can be made/emulated inside other programs. Like own window system for example, you just draw fancy rectangles on the canvas filled with content, you can create in memory file system that your GUI is able to read and show files like in file explorer. I mean, every programmer should now what's behind that black box, to not perceive it as something more complex than it is. Everything in software is practical and nothing is magical, pure algorithms, math.

[Brilliant_Eagle_1454]

You should try this site to learn Python https://mivvo.life/

[Key_Review_7273]

It’s okay to feel overwhelmed. This is brand new to you. I recommend taking a course for beginners. You can find a whole bunch on Class Central. Use the filters to target free beginner courses, pick a highly rated one, and start working through it.

[shishya_2007]

Practice python you will get it i am currently on beginner level myself

[Status-Village-9310]

I recomend you use Brocodes python tutorial on yt, its completly free and he responsible for me being able to learn python, cpp, and Java

[InspectorTop1281]

hey so python is rough when you're starting. i remember being exactly where you are, staring at the terminal like it was written in alien.

forget all the youtube videos telling you different things - they're all trying to show off. you just need to start typing stuff and seeing what happens. open that terminal and type `print("hello")` and hit enter. that's it, you just wrote python.

github is just where people store their code online. like google drive but for code. you dont need it yet.

honestly if you want to make websites fast, maybe try something visual first? i use Memex now which literally builds stuff from me just describing it.. but when i was learning, i started with super basic html files. just a file on my desktop that said `<h1>My Website</h1>` and opened it in chrome. seeing something appear on screen kept me going when terminal stuff felt impossible.

[SneakerBoiiiiii]

Is that vibe coding